Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) have taken the next step in their drive to straighten out a housing privatization mess that has stalled housing projects in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, and Massachusetts. Last week, they and several other Senators sent a letter to the Air Force, decrying the service’s lack of accountability and inadequate performance mechanisms. This week, they have introduced legislation that would, among several initiatives, ensure “more effective oversight of funding” and require “a more vigorous process in vetting project bidders.” The Senators are not attacking the overall privatized housing initiative, which they have acknowledged has progressed very well in other locations. (For instance, read about the new homes at McGuire AFB, N.J. in the Burlington County Times).
Adm. Christopher Grady, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs and head of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council, is pushing a “portfolio” approach to requirements and wants his position to have “more teeth” so he can enforce it.